1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door weather strip provided at least in the upper portion of a door frame in the outer circumference of a door of a vehicle.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 2000-267022, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a door weather strip is provided in the outer circumference of a door of a vehicle such as a car or the like. For example, a door weather strip disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 11-48791 is attached to a door frame, and provided with a base portion having a hollow portion, and a seal lip extending from the base portion. Thus, sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and a circumferential end portion of an opening of a vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame is carried out by the seal lip.
However, when there occurs a slight unevenness (vertical unevenness) in the fitting of the door, particularly when the distance between the door frame and the vehicle body becomes larger than a predetermined distance, there is a fear that there is produced a gap between the tip end of the seal lip and the vehicle body so that it becomes difficult to ensure satisfactory sealing property.
It is therefore considered that a plurality of seal lips, that is, a vehicle-interior-side (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cinterior-sidexe2x80x9d simply) seal lip and a vehicle-exterior-side (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cexterior-sidexe2x80x9d simply) seal lip are provided so that main sealing is ensured, for example, by the interior-side seal lip to thereby avoid such a defect caused by a gap (for example, see Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho. 61-59426).
However, with unevenness in the fitting of the door, the distance between the door frame and the vehicle body may be smaller than the predetermined distance. In this case, bending stress (repulsion stress) of the interior-side seal lip becomes too large. As a result, there is a fear that the bending stress may cause increase in the door closing force when the door is closed.
The present invention was developed to solve the foregoing problem. It is an object of the present invention to provide a door weather strip in which, even if there arises a slight unevenness in the fitting of a door, it is possible to avoid the deterioration of sealing property or a defect caused by the increase in the door closing force.
Description will be made below for attaining the foregoing object and so on. Operation, effect, and so on, peculiar to each will be added to the description in accordance with necessity.
A door weather strip according to a first aspect is constituted by: a base portion attachable to a door frame and having a hollow portion; an exterior-side seal lip extending from the base portion so as to carry out sealing between an outer circumference of the door frame and a circumferential end portion of an opening of a vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame; and an interior-side seal lip extending from the base portion more interior than the exterior-side seal lip so as to carry out sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame; wherein at least one of side parts on the base portion where a root portion of the interior-side seal lip is located is formed into a thin portion to be deformed easily.
According to the first aspect, the base portion having the hollow portion is attachable to the door frame, and the exterior-side and interior-side seal lips are extended from the base portion so as to carry out sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame. Thus, even if the gap between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame becomes a little larger than a predetermined size due to the unevenness in the fitting of the door, the sealing property is ensured easily by the double sealing. In addition, at least one of the side parts on the base portion where a root portion of the interior-side seal lip is located is formed into a thin portion. Thus, even if the gap between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body becomes a little smaller than the predetermined size, the side part of the interior-side seal lip on the base portion is easily deformed so that bending stress is prevented from increasing conspicuously. It is therefore possible to make it difficult to produce a defect due to increase in the closing force when the door is closed.
xe2x80x9cAt least one of the side parts of the interior-side seal lip on the base portionxe2x80x9d may be replaced by xe2x80x9cthe opposite side parts of the interior-side seal lip on the base portionxe2x80x9d. With such a configuration, it is possible to make it easier to suppress the increase in stress caused by deformation.
In addition, a door weather strip according to a second aspect is constituted by: a base portion having a base bottom portion attached to a door frame, an interior-side side wall portion and an exterior-side side wall portion extending from substantially opposite sides of the base bottom portion, and a bridge portion connecting tip ends of the opposite side wall portions, a hollow portion being formed by the base bottom portion, the opposite side wall portions and the bridge portion; an exterior-side seal lip extending from a substantially border portion between the exterior-side side wall portion and the bridge portion so as to carry out sealing between an outer circumference of the door frame and a circumferential edge or a circumferential end portion of an opening of a vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame; and an interior-side seal lip extending from the bridge portion more interior than the exterior-side seal lip so as to carry out sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame; wherein at least one of side parts on the bridge portion where a root portion of the interior-side seal lip is located is formed into a thin portion to be deformed easily.
According to the second aspect, sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential edge or the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame is carried out by the exterior-side and interior-side seal lips. The exterior-side seal lip extends from a substantially border portion between the exterior-side side wall portion and the bridge portion. The interior-side seal lip extends from the bridge portion more interior than the exterior-side seal lip. Thus, even if the gap between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body opposite to the outer circumference of the door frame becomes a little larger than a predetermined size due to the unevenness in the fitting of the door, the sealing property is ensured easily by the double sealing. In addition, at least one of the side parts on the bridge portion where a root portion of the interior-side seal lip is located is formed into a thin portion. Thus, even if the gap between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body becomes a little smaller than the predetermined size, the side part of the interior-side seal lip on the bridge portion is easily deformed so that bending stress is prevented from increasing conspicuously. It is therefore possible to make it difficult to produce a defect due to increase in the closing force when the door is closed.
xe2x80x9cAt least one of the side parts on the bridge portionxe2x80x9d maybe replaced by xe2x80x9cthe opposite side parts on the bridge portionxe2x80x9d. With such a configuration, it is possible to make it easier to suppress the increase in stress caused by deformation.
Bending allowance of the interior-side seal lip is preferably set to be larger than that of the exterior-side seal lip.
The bending allowance of the interior-side seal lip is set to be larger than that of the exterior-side seal lip. Thus, sealing between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body is carried out chiefly by the interior-side seal lip. In the above, a substitute constitution xe2x80x9cthe exterior-side seal lip may be designed almost not to bend when the door is closedxe2x80x9d may be adapted.
The exterior-side seal lip is preferably set to be substantially on the same plane as an exterior side-surface of the vehicle body when a door is closed.
The exterior-side seal lip is set to be substantially on the same plane as the exterior side-surface of the vehicle body when the door is closed. Thus, it can be made difficult to recognize a recess portion between the vehicle body and the door frame visually from the outside. As a result, so-called xe2x80x9cflush surfacexe2x80x9d is done so that the appearance quality can be improved conspicuously.
At least the interior-side seal lip is preferably formed out of a foamed elastic material.
At least the interior-side seal lip is formed out of a foamed elastic material. Thus, the interior-side seal lip itself is deformed easily. As a result, even if the gap between the outer circumference of the door frame and the circumferential end portion of the opening of the vehicle body becomes a little smaller than the predetermined size, it becomes easier to suppress the increase in bending stress.
At least the interior-side seal lip is preferably provided to extend toward the exterior side.
At least the interior-side seal lip is provided to extend toward the exterior side. Thus, it can be made difficult to produce an abnormal sound when the door is opened.
At least an exterior side surface of the exterior-side seal lip is preferably formed out of a solid elastic material harder and more lustrous than a foamed elastic material.
At least the exterior side surface of the exterior-side seal lip is formed out of a solid elastic material harder and more lustrous than a foamed elastic material. Thus, the appearance quality becomes excellent when the exterior-side seal lip is recognized visually from the outside.
At least a part of the base portion is preferably formed out of a solid elastic material harder than a foamed elastic material.
The base portion formed out of the solid elastic material is difficult to be deformed. Thus, the attachment stability of the base portion can be improved. xe2x80x9cAt least a part of the base portionxe2x80x9d may be replaced by xe2x80x9cthe base portionxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cthe base bottom portionxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cthe base bottom portion and at least one of the side wall portionsxe2x80x9d.
In the door weather strip according to the present invention, when the door is closed, the interior-side seal lip per se is bent first, and the base portion or the bridge portion is further deformed at the thin portion formed in the side part of the root portion of the interior-side seal lip into the hollow portion. Namely, the door weather strip according to the present invention attains its deformation in two steps. As a result, while the operativity of the door closing is secured, sealing characteristics is improved.
Features and advantages of the invention will be evident from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments described in conjunction with the attached drawings.